Le Temple de la Restauration, analyse d’une dissidence néopentecôtiste au Cap-Vert

Abstract

Every day more believers leave the Universal Church of the Kingdom of God, covered with shame and debts. The “theology of prosperity” is not infallible and the most fervent faithful can end up broke without God having, as promised, rewarded their generous donations. For these disillusioned believers, there is nothing left. There is no social security or institution to turn to for compensation. Their financial contributions, which were supposed to be “spontaneous”, have long since left Brazil to feed the accounts of the Mother-Church or to fund other opaque investments. In the micro-world of Cape Verde, these numerous deserters quickly make the tour of the islands and find no shortage of listeners. It is thus not surprising that this “demand” saw the development, three years ago, of a Church that specifically aims to “restore” the faith of these so-called “victims” of the Neo-Pentecostal and, by extension, Evangelical system: the “Restoration Temple”. To this end, the American-based Church bases its discourse on similarity and opposition: the cult is identical to the Universal Church in its emotionalism and theatricality and its striving towards “liberation”, but it is built on a virulent criticism of its theology of prosperity and its exclusiveness.